HARRY TRILL
(1139 and 518421 Royal Engineers, and 277138 and
1043088 Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers)

by
Lieutenant Colonel Edward De Santis
Ó 2017.All Rights Reserved.

1.INTRODUCTION

The principal references
used in the preparation of this narrative came from a number of sources.They include census records, official registries in the United Kingdom,
medal rolls, family trees, army lists, and The London Gazette.All sources are contained in the REFERENCE section at the end of the
narrative and are cited throughout in the ENDNOTES.Every effort has been made to accurately portray the life and military
service of Sergeant Major Trill.Where
sources of information are not specifically cited, the information was obtained
from Trill’s service papers or his unit’s war diary.

I
have attempted to cover his military service in the greatest detail possible
given the fact that his service papers were obtained from the Army Personnel
Centre in Glasgow.As much detail as
possible regarding Trill’s life and family also has been included as I think
that if it is available it should be made known.Some researchers might say that too much background material has been
included.I disagree, but then
everyone has an opinion as to what should be included in a narrative of this
type.Suffice it to say that
information regarding a person’s family, back as far as that information is
available, cannot be considered to be extraneous.A narrative of this type is not meant to be a lesson in history, at least
to my mind it is not.It is meant to
be an in-depth account of the life of an individual who served his country and
whose service is being honored by the person who is the custodian of his medals.An in-depth look at the historical facts surrounding the man’s life
would also seem to be important as they may bring to light many aspects of
military history of which the reader may not be aware.

2.EARLY
LIFE AND FAMILY INFORMATION

Harry Trill was born at Portsea Island, in Portsmouth, Hampshire on the 9th
of November 1896.[1]Portsea Island is a small, flat, low-lying island just off the southern
coast of England. The island is located within the traditional and

ceremonial county of Hampshire and contains the vast majority of the city
of Portsmouth.The Portsmouth
Historic Dockyard is located on Portsea Island.It will be seen as this narrative progresses, that the Trill family
maintained very close

connections with Portsmouth throughout the life and military service of
Harry Trill.

Harry’s paternal grandmother was Mary Ann Trill (born in 1832) and his
mother was Mary Ann Trill (born in 1860).He
also had a brother, Leonard Reuben Trill (born in 1895).[2]
Harry’s father was John Frank Trill, who had been born in 1859 and died on the
30th of March 1902.At
first some thought was given to the possibility that John Frank Trill might have
died or been killed in the Boer War, however a search of the Ancestry.com
listing of Second Boer War casualties only uncovered one man, a Lance Sergeant
A.T. Trill, 5th Lancers who was killed in action during this war.Furthermore, it was later found that John Trill died at Portsmouth and
not in South Africa. Little more than this is known about John Frank Trill other
than that he married Mary Ann King and had two sons and a daughter by her.It is not know why he does not appear in the 1901 census other than the
fact that he was not living with his family at the time of the census.In
1901 young Harry was living with his grandparents as shown in the census return.[3]

It should be noted that the 1901 census shows Harry Trill’s year of
birth as 1897.However his service
papers show his birth date definitively as the 9th of November 1896
and the Birth Registry for England and Wales also shows his

birth registered in the fourth quarter of 1896.It also should be noted that while Harry’s sister is shown as Maud
Trill in the census, her name actually was Victoria Maud Trill.[5]

The 1911 Census of England and Wales provides the following information
regarding Harry Trill’s family.

The
occupation of Colour Maker is thought to have been involved with the
manufacturing of dyes for fabrics.She
worked at the Government Dockyard.

As
a Blacksmith’s Striker young Harry probably worked as a blacksmith’s
assistant.The census shows that
he worked at the Government Dockyard at Portsmouth in this capacity.

Leonard
Trill worked as a messenger at the Portsmouth Dockyard Store.

Grandmother
King’s birthplace is shown more definitively in this census as Milton,
Hampshire.Milton is a primarily
residential area of the city of Portsmouth, on the south eastern side of
Portsea Island, bordered on the east by Langstone Harbour.

Obviously,
Thomas R. King had died between 1901 and 1911 since he is not shown in this
census.

As
previously indicated, John Frank Trill had died in 1902 and therefore did
not appear in this census.

The
boys’ sister Maud (Victoria Maud) does not appear in the 1911 census
because she had already married.She
married Robert Alfred Rands on the 9th of July 1908 at
Portsmouth.

Figure 1.The Portsmouth
Dockyard as it Appeared, circa 1911.

3.PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

Harry Trill was not a big man.At
the time of his enlistment in the Army in the spring of 1914 he was only 5 feet
6 inches tall.His chest
measurement, when fully expanded, was 33˝ inches, with a range of expansion of
2 inches.His vision and physical
development were noted to be good.[7]

After the Great War when he was discharged from the Army he measured 5
feet 6˝ inches tall and weighed 144 pounds.His expanded chest measurement had increased to 36˝ inches and the range
of expansion of his chest had increased to 3˝ inches.In 1941 he was described as being 5 feet 8˝ inches tall.

Harry Trill had a fresh complexion, brown eyes and brown hair.Unfortunately a photograph of him has not yet been found.

4.ENLISTMENT AND
TRAINING

Harry Trill enlisted in the Royal Engineers Territorial Force at
Portsmouth on the 6th of April 1914.The territorial unit in which he enlisted was the Hampshire Fortress
Royal Engineers based in Portsmouth.His
regimental number was 1139.

The headquarters of the Hampshire Fortress Royal Engineers in April of
1914 was located on Commercial Road in Portsmouth.The officer commanding the unit was Lieutenant Colonel W.H. Fry, R.E.,
TD.[8]There were six companies in the Hampshire Fortress Engineers at the time
located as follows:

No. 1 Works Company, Hampshire Terrace, Portsmouth

No. 2 Works Company, Hampshire Terrace, Portsmouth

No. 3 Works Company, Eastleigh, Hampshire

No. 4 Electric Lights Company, Hampshire Terrace, Portsmouth

No. 5 Electric Lights Company, Freshwater, Hampshire

No. 6 Electric Lights Company, Gosport, Hampshire

Harry’s enlistment prior to the Great War of 1914-1918 is likely due to
his families need for a steady income and to have one less mouth to feed given
the circumstances of having no males in the family earning substantial wages.By 1914 his brother Leonard was 19 years of age and probably not earning
much as a messenger boy.His mother
by that time was 54 years old and probably was not earning enough to support
herself, her mother and two sons.No
information could be found regarding the pension of Mary A. King, but it likely
was not that much.Leonard may also
have had some physical disability that precluded him getting a higher paying
job.This assumption is based on the
fact that he apparently did not serve during the Great War.[9]At 19 years of age Leonard certainly would have been eligible to serve,
so if he did not it had to be because of some physical disability.

Harry Trill’s attestation documents indicate he was born in the Parish
of Southsea, near the Town of Portsmouth, in the County of Hampshire.He was a British subject and his age on enlistment was 17 years and 5
months.He indicated that he had
been employed as a Blacksmith at His Majesty’s Dockyard (Portsmouth).He gave his address as 51 Cumberland Road, Southsea.[10]Harry indicated that he had never been an Apprentice, that he was not
married, that he was not a member of His Majesty’s Naval or Military forces
and that he had never previously served in the Naval or Military forces.He had never been a cadet and was never rejected for service.He stated that he was willing to attest for 4 years with the Hampshire
(Fortress) R.E. and his oath of attestation was certified by Lieutenant F.H.E.
Webber, R.E. an officer in No. 1 Works Company at Portsmouth.The responses that Harry gave were to the typical questions asked of a
recruit upon attestation.

On the day of his attestation Harry was given a Certificate of Medical
Examination that found him fit for service in the Territorial Force.His medical certification was made by Major B. Emmett, R.A.M.C.His Certificate of Primary Military Examination, issued by the recruiting
officer, Lieutenant Webber, found him fit for service in the Hampshire
(Fortress) R.E. and his attestation was certified by Major T.W. Mead, the
officer commanding No. 3 Works company.Major
Mead was the second highest ranking officer in the Hampshire (Fortress) R.E. at
that time and probably was the unit’s acting commander on the date of
Trill’s attestation.All this was
done in one day.

Sapper Harry Trill was present for his unit’s annual training during
the summer of 1914.On the 5th
of August he was embodied for active service and joined the 2/2nd
Hants Fortress Company, Royal Engineers for service in the Great War.His company appears to have remained at home during for more than a year
while the war in France and Flanders got well underway.During this period the company must certainly have built up its strength,
received equipment and training and prepared itself for active service.[11]

5.ASSIGNMENTS AND CAMPAIGN SERVICE

The
Great War, 1914-1919

The 2/2nd Hants Fortress Company embarked for France on the 15th
of September 1915.On the 22nd
of September Sapper Trill was transferred to the 1/2nd Hants Works
Company to complete that unit’s establishment.This company would subsequently be re-designated as the 560th
(Hants) Army Troops Company and was assigned to the British Fifth Army.When the non-commissioned officers and other ranks of the company first
went to France they retained their four digit Territorial Force regimental
numbers.The regimental numbers of
the men later were changed from their four-digit Territorial Force numbers to
six- digit regimental numbers in the series 518XXX.[12]

The mission of an Army Troops Company was much like that of a Division
Field Company of the Royal Engineers operating in division areas in that it
performed general engineer works on the battlefield, only it performed these
functions further behind the front line in the corps and army rear areas.The Army Troops Company was organized in a manner similar to a Division
Field Company.It consisted of a
Major in command of the company, a Captain as second in command and four
Lieutenants (or 2nd Lieutenants) each in command of a section.There were about 25 non-commissioned officers and 190 other ranks
assigned to the company along with attached personnel such as men of the Royal
Army Medical Corps.

Harry Trill and the men of the 560th Army Troops Company moved
many times during the war and took part in a number of significant actions.The following is a chronology of the company’s moves and service as
taken from its war diary.[13]

24 September 1915:The
company was at Sailly-Labourse in the Pas-de-Calais, France under the control of
British I Corps.

25 September 1915:The
company moved to Vermelles to hold a captured German linenorth of Hulluch Road during the Battle of Loos.Six men of the company were wounded by shell fire during this action.

Figure 2.The
Vermelles-Hulluch Areas, September 1915.

26-27 September 1915: Two men of the company were killed in action,
eight men werewounded and four were
gassed.

1 October 1915:The company was transferred to the control of General Headquartersat Bethune.[14]

9 March 1916:The company, still under General Headquarters control, was at
Mazingarbe.

28 August 1916:The company was located at Bethune, still under the control of General
Headquarters.

1 September 1916:The company is placed under the control of the 32nd Division
at Bethune.This move certainly put
Sapper Trill and his mates muchcloser to
the action at the front, although from the number of casualties that they suffered in July and August it would appear that the
company saw quite a bit of action on the Somme.

5 March 1917:The company was located at Boyeffles.

9-14 April 1917:The company took part in the Battle of Vimy with British I Corps.The British I Corps area was located immediately to the north of the
Canadian Corps, the corps that took the brunt of the fighting at Vimy Ridge (see map below).

Figure 3.The Battle of Vimy
Ridge, April 1917.

16 April 1917:The company was at Maroc.

23 April 1917:The company was at Aix-Noulétte.

3-4 May 1917:The company took part in the action at the First Battle of the Scarpeunder the control of the British First Army.1237 (later 518501) Sapper Frank Grant was wounded in action.

The Battle of Messines, 7-14 June 1917

7 June 1917:This was the worst single day of the war for the 560th Army
Troops Company.The following men
were casualties on this day:

The unit war diary does not give details regarding these last three menother than they were wounded.They
probably were later replacements assigned
to the unit and not part of the original Territorial Force unit.

Figure 4.The Battle of
Messines, June 1917.

1 July 1917:The company was at Noyelles.

9 July 1917:The company was at Fosse 2.

16 July 1917:The company was at Labourse.

17 July 1917:The company returned to Noyelles.

15-25 August 1917:The
company took part in the Battle of Hill 70 under the control of British First Army.The
capture of Hill 70 in France was an important Canadian victory during the war
and the first major action fought by the Canadian Corps under a Canadian commander. The battle gave the Allied forces a crucial strategic position
overlooking the occupied city of Lens.

10 October 1917:Sapper Trill departed from France on leave to the United Kingdom.By this time all the original men assigned to the company had hadtheir regimental numbers changed to the six digit 518XXX series.

12 January 1918:518586 Sergeant Thomas W. Finch and a Lance Corporal Coltharp were
wounded in action on this date.

3 February 1918:Sapper Harry Trill was accidentally injured on this date while not on
duty.No details are provided in his
service papers with regard to the cause or nature of his injury.

4 February 1918:Trill was admitted to hospital for treatment of his injury.

13 February 1918:Harry Trill was returned to duty by the 33rd Field Ambulance,
a unit of the 11th (Northern) Division.

12 April 1918:The company was at Verquigneul.

18 April 1918:The 560th Army Troops Company took part in the Battle of
Bethune,part of the Battle of Lys, with
the British I Corps.The I Corps was
located in the southern part of the battle
area, as shown in the map below.

Figure 5.The Battle of Lys,
April 1918.

12 June 1918:The company was at Hesdigneul.

26-30 August 1918:The
company took part in the Second Battle of the Scarpe (alsoknown as the Second Battle of Arras) under the control of the British
First Army.

17 October 1918:The company was at Bauvin.

19 October 1918:Sapper Trill began 14 days leave in the U.K.

28 September – 10The 560th Army Troops Company took part in the pursuit of the November 1918:German forces to
Mons under the control of the British Fifth Army.The company was at Carvin on 25 October.

Harry Trill returned to his unit at Templeuve on 1 November.

The company was at Moulde on 8 November and at Antoing on 10 November.

11 November 1918:Harry
Trill and his company were at Antoing on the day of theArmistice.

10 December 1918:Sapper
Harry Trill was absent from roll call on this day, perhaps still celebrating the
Armistice or perhaps an early Christmas celebration.

11 December 1918:Harry
Trill received punishment for his absence from roll call.Hewas confined to barracks for
three days under open arrest.

24 December 1918:The
company spent Christmas eve in Wattignies.

21 February 1919:The company was at Templeuve.

During its time in France and Flanders the 560th (Hants) Army
Troops was actively engaged in a number of battles and moved repeatedly across
and around the battlefield.The unit
war diary provides many details regarding the tasks that the company performed.There are so many entries in the diary that it would take up much too
much space to list them all separately.The
following is a summary of the types of tasks undertaken by the company in many
of the areas where it was located.The
list is not presented here in any particular order, either chronological or in
order of importance.

·Trench construction and drainage of trench networks.

·Bridge building across both wet and dry gaps.

·Railway shed construction along new and existing rail lines.

·Light railway construction for movement of men and supplies to
forward areas and for the evacuation of casualties.

·Road construction, primarily in rear areas.

·Construction and repair of fascine roads constructed of bundles of
brushwood or of logs.These types of
roads are sometimes called corduroy roads.

·Construction of redoubts along defensive lines.

·Laying of barbed wire obstacles along defensive lines.

·Preparing machine gun emplacements on defensive lines.

·Construction of observation posts for infantry and artillery
units.

·Construction of hutments or other types of living accommodations
in rear areas.

·Construction of rifle ranges in rear areas for musketry training.

·Ballasting of light railway tracks.

·Construction of water supply pipelines.

·Construction of water pumping stations.

·Construction of signal stations.

·Construction of ammunition dumps.

·Construction of officers’ messes in rear areas.

·Construction of theaters in corps rear areas.

Post War Service, 1919-1920

Sapper Harry Trill returned to the U.K. from France on the 11th
of June 1919.On the 10th
of August 1919 his total service was reckoned at 5 years and 6 days with 4 years
and 270 days of that time counted for pension purposes.

On the 11th of August Trill was disembodied from the
Army at Chatham and he gave his intended residence as 1 Wilson Road, North End,
Portsmouth.

Figure 6.Trill’s Home at
1 Wilson Road, North End, Portsmouth.
(This building is located at that address now, in 2017.It may not be the same building in which Trill lived, or it may have been
substantially renovated since he lived there.)

Returning to the Colours, 1920

Harry Trill either liked military service or he saw it as an opportunity
to earn a living when jobs were scarce in post-war England.Whatever the reason, he expressed an interest in returning to the Colours
and on the 8th of January 1920 he presented himself to Captain E.C.
Hopkins, R.A.M.C. at Portsmouth to obtain a Certificate of Medical Examination
for reenlistment.Captain Hopkins
found him to be fit for service in the Army and indicated that his medical
category was A.1.In this medical
category Harry Trill was fit
for dispatching overseas, as regards physical and mental health, and training.

On
the 13th of January 1920 Trill was discharged from the Royal
Engineers Territorial Force.He was
living at the Wilson Road address previously mentioned and his discharge sheet
that his Military Character was “Very Good.”The regimental number 4624 also appears on his discharge papers.The author can only guess as to the origin of this number.When he first joined the Hants Fortress Engineers (T.F.) he was given
regimental number 1139.When his
unit became the 560th (Hants) Army Troops Company his regimental
number was changed to 518421.After
being disembodied from that company in August of 1919 he was again placed on the
rolls of the Territorial Force and presumably he was issued the number 4624 for
the short period prior to his re-enlistment.For his service during the Great War he was awarded the 1914-15 Star,
British War Medal and Victory Medal.Oddly
enough each of these medals is named to him as 1139 Sapper H. Trill.

On
the 14th of January 1920 Harry Trill enlisted in the Royal Artillery
(Royal Field Artillery) at Winchester for the “normal period of 6 years.”No reason is given in his service papers to indicate why he chose the
Royal Artillery rather than continue his career in the Royal Engineers.

Upon
his enlistment he indicated that his trade was Hammer Man and that he lived in
Southsea, Portsmouth.He gave his
age as 23 years and 2 months.As
usual he was required to respond to numerous questions upon his enlistment as he
had been back in 1914.He indicated
that he had had previous service in the Royal Engineers, regimental number
518421, from 23-3-1914 to 14-6-1919 when he was demobilized.[17]Harry indicated that he was willing to enlist in the Royal Regiment of
Artillery in either the Royal Horse Artillery or the Royal Field Artillery.He also indicated that his next-of-kin was his sister, Mrs. V. Rands of 2
Till Cottage, Cosham, Hampshire.[18]As described in Section 2 of this narrative, his sister’s real name was
Victoria Maud Rands and she was the wife of Robert Alfred Rands.Victoria and Robert had two sons at the time that Harry enlisted in the
Royal Artillery; Harold Rands, born 30 October 1911 at Portsmouth and Robert A.
Rands also born in Portsmouth in the first quarter of 1914.Both of Harry’s nephews would have been of age to serve in the Second
World War.A search of the
Commonwealth War Grave Commission web site did not locate either man as a
casualty in that war.

Trill’s
attestation was certified on the 14th of January 1920 at Winchester
by the Recruiting Officer of the 37th Recruiting Area.He also was given a Certificate of Primary Military Examination on this
date by the same Recruiting Officer and was found fit for service in the Royal
Regiment of Artillery (R.H.A. or R.F.A.).He
was given the rank of Gunner and regimental number 277138.Shortly thereafter, when the Army did away with regimental numbers and
began issuing army numbers, Trill was issued number 1043088.

The
following is a description of Harry Trill when he enlisted in the Royal
Artillery:

Height:

5 feet 6˝ inches.

Weight:

144 pounds.

Chest when
expanded:

36˝ inches.

Chest range
of expansion:

3˝ inches.

Complexion:

Fresh.

Eyes:

Brown.

Hair:

Brown.

Religion:

Church of England

Training in the Royal Artillery,
1920

Gunner Harry Trill joined No. 3 Depot, Royal Field Artillery
at Hilsea, Portsmouth[19]
on the 16th of January 1920.Presumably
he was assigned to the depot for preliminary processing.On the 22nd of January he was posted as 277138 Gunner Harry
Trill to the 505th Battery, III Reserve Brigade, R.F.A. at Exeter,
Devonshire.This posting presumably
was for training, although as a soldier who had served in the Great War he
probably only would have needed training in the skills of an artilleryman.In less than two weeks he was posted again, this time to the 12th
Brigade, R.F.A., arriving there on the 3rd of February 1920.

The 12th was a howitzer brigade, comprising numbers 43, 86 and
87 (Howitzer) Batteries, had come under command of the 6th Division during the
Great War and went with the division to France in September 1914.[20]Trill probably continued his training as an artilleryman with the 12th
Brigade because he was reposted to the III Reserve Brigade at Hilsea on the 24th
of April 1920 for further reassignment.

Service in India, 1920-1933

On the 4th of June 1920 Gunner Trill embarked for service in
India and was posted to the 68th/88th Field Battery, R.A.Both the 68th and the 88th Batteries were in
the 14th Brigade R.F.A. along with the 39th Field Battery.It is presumed that the dual designation 68th/88th
in Trill’s service record may indicate that at the time the strengths of both
of these batteries in all ranks might have been so low that the two batteries
were amalgamated for some period of time until their individual strengths could
be increased.

Trill remained in the 14th Brigade for about a month.On the 1st of July 1920 he was posted as a Gunner in the 94th
Field Battery, 18th Brigade, R.F.A.He was appointed a Lance Bombardier in the 94th Field Battery
on the 31st of January 1922 and on the 20th of December
1922 he was appointed to the rank of Bombardier in the 94th Field
Battery.

While he was stationed in India, Harry Trill spent most of his time in
assignments in Kirkee, Poona, Belgaum and Hyderabad.He qualified as an Instructor in Signalling, Class A.1 on the 14th
of April 1923 and was designated a Bombardier Signaller by the Office of the
Army Signal School at Poona.On the
8th of December 1923, as a result of his qualification as an
Instructor, he was posted as a Bombardier Signaller with the 38th
Field Battery, 14th Brigade, R.F.A. at Hyderabad, Sind under the
command of Major Edgar Carnegie Antsey, DSO, R.A.[21]

Figure 7. Brigadier E.C.Antsey, DSO, R.A. in Later Life.

While serving in the 38th Battery, Trill was confirmed in the
rank of Bombardier Signaller on the 27th of March 1924.He was then appointed to the rank of Lance Sergeant Signaller in the 38th
Field Battery on the 5th of January 1926.

Lance Sergeant Trill apparently was convinced in 1926 that he would
remain in the Army.On the 31st
of May of that year he extended his service to complete 12 years with the
Colours.By March of 1927 Trill had
been in India for almost seven years.On
the 4th of March he was granted six months furlough to the U.K. and
he departed from Karachi on that date aboard H.M.T. City
of Marseilles.

Figure
8.A Postcard of the H.M.T. City of
Marseilles.

On the 15th of March 1927 while on furlough or perhaps while
still sailing home from India, Trill was promoted to the rank of Sergeant in the
38th Field Battery.

While at home Sergeant Trill married Daisy Louisa Griffin,[22]
a spinster, at the Parish Church of Waterlooville in Catherington, Hampshire.Daisy was living with Trill’s sister, Mrs. V. Rands, at 2 Till Cottage
in Cosham at the time of their marriage.

Upon his return to India with his new wife on the 19th of
January 1928, Harry Trill was posted to the 88th Field Battery, 14th
Brigade, R.A.A little over a year
later, on the 26th of February 1929, Harry re-engaged to complete 21
years of service with the Colours.He
was now in for the long haul.About
eleven months after his re-engagement, Sergeant Trill was back in his old unit,
the combined 68th/88th Field Battery at Fort St. George in
Madras.[23]It is still uncertain how or why this combined unit was formed.As previously mentioned, lack of personnel may have been the cause of
temporary amalgamations of two batteries, the 68th and the 88th.

Harry Trill was placed on the married roll of his unit on the 1st
of July 1929.He was then eligible
to live in married quarters with his wife and to have transport and travel
expenses for her and his household paid for by the Army.

Sergeant Trill’s military training continued during 1930 and 1931.On the 30th of August 1930 he completed a Gunnery Course at
Kakul.[24]On the 1st of June 1931 he passed the Small Arms Course at
Kirkee.He was subsequently
appointed Park Sergeant of his battery at Fort St. George on the 17th
of June 1932 and presumably he performed duties associated with the care and
maintenance of the battery’s gun and other equipment.

Trill’s final year in India was 1933.On the 14th of March of that year he was posted to the 8th
Anti-Aircraft Battery, R.A. at Muttara and was promoted to the rank of Battery
Quartermaster Sergeant.This posting
represented a change in duties and experience for him as up to this point he had
served exclusively in field batteries.In
April, having completed 18 years of service in the ranks, Harry Trill was
awarded the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal with bar [REGULAR ARMY] by
authority of Army Order 175/33.On
the 21st of November 1933 BQMS Trill was promoted to the rank of
Battery Sergeant Major (Warrant Officer Class II) and was posted to the 42nd
Field Battery, R.A. in the United Kingdom and he returned home from India on the
30th of November 1933 to join his new unit.

Harry Trill left the 42nd Field Battery on the 1st
of January 1935 to join the 96th Field Brigade, R.A. (T.A.) at
Exeter, Devonshire as a Battery Sergeant Major.He remained in this position until the 14th of August 1939
when he was posted as Acting Regimental Sergeant Major with the 142nd
(Royal Devon Yeomanry) Field Regiment, R.A.[25]
at Okehampton, Devonshire.[26]RSM Harry Trill was serving with this unit when the Second World War
started in September of 1939.On the
1st of December 1939 he was granted the War Substantive Rank as
Regimental Sergeant Major of the 142nd Field Regiment.

On the 16th of July 1941 Harry Trill was admitted to 14
General Hospital at Basildon, Essex.The
reason for his hospitalization is not specified in his service papers.He was released from hospital on the 6th of August 1941 and on
the 13th of August he was posted to the Royal Artillery Depot at
Woolwich.The 142nd Field
Regiment appears to have moved from Okehampton, where Harry first joined the
unit, to the depot at Woolwich, as Trill’s records show that he rejoined the
142nd at Woolwich on the 21st of August.Apparently his reason for being in hospital was due to some illness or
physical disability which precluded his further service in the Army.On the 3rd of October 1941 the Officer Commanding 142nd
Field Regiment completed the necessary paperwork in preparation for Harry’s
discharge from the Army.

Figure
9.The Royal Artillery Barracks,
Woolwich.

Trill’s discharge papers describe him as follows in 1941:

Date
of birth:

9 November
1895.

Height:

5 feet 8˝
inches.

Complexion:

Fresh.

Colour
of eyes:

Brown.

Colour
of hair:

Dark.

Marks
and scars:

Nil.

The
Lieutenant Colonel Commanding 142nd (R.D.Y.) Regiment, R.A. (T.A.)
wrote the following about RSM Harry Trill’s military conduct:[27]

“Has
done some very good service during the years he has been under my command, and
until his health failed has been trustworthy and efficient.He is an excellent instructor.”

Trill’s
address on discharge was given in his service papers as 34 Raleigh Road, Exeter,
Devonshire and the cause of his discharge was shown as permanently unfit for any
form of military service.

Figure 10.The Trill Residence
at 34 Raleigh Road, Exeter, Devonshire.

On
the 7th of October 1941 Trill’s discharge was confirmed.His service completed on the day of his discharge was 21 years and 294
days with the Colours. His papers indicated that he had completed no service in
the Reserve and that he was “permanently unfit for any form of military
service” (health condition unspecified).He
was discharged on becoming non-effective under Paragraph 390(xvi), King’s
Regulations.His discharge from the
Royal Regiment of Artillery actually took place on the 3rd of
November 1941 with his service towards his engagement reckoned at 26 years and
300 days.His service towards
pension was 26 years and 199 days.His
former service that was allowed to reckon towards pension (that is, his service
in the Royal Engineers during the Great War) was 4 years and 270 days.To complicate matters even more with regard to total service and date of
discharge, his service papers indicate that his service for pension ended on the
13th of January 1942.Although
he saw no active service in the field during the war, Harry Trill was awarded
the Defence Medal and 1939-45 War Medal.

Re-Enlistment in the Royal Engineers (Territorial Army)

We now come to a very interesting part of the Trill story.After being declared “unfit for any form of military service” in 1941
Harry Trill was able to reenlist again in the Territorial Army!He obviously had a penchant for military service, but one wonders how he
was able to do this.Had his health
improved to the point where he was no longer unfit?Were the Territorial Army officials not aware of his health problem? Did
Harry in some way conceal his health problem or did the T.A. simply turn a blind
eye to the problem.One might think
that it was intended to assign him to duties that would not be affected by his
health problem, but even that assumption contradicts the “any form of military
service” statement in his discharge papers.In any case, on the 16th of May 1947 Harry Trill reenlisted in
the Royal Engineers Territorial Army with his old Army Number, 1043088, and with
the rank of a senior non-commissioned officer.He served in the rank of Squadron Quartermaster Sergeant and on the 2nd
of January 1956 he was awarded the British Empire Medal in the New Year Honours.No record has been located to indicate for how long he served as a SQMS
in the Royal Engineers (T.A.), but it might be safe to assume that the award of
the BEM coincided with his final discharge from military service.

6.PROMOTIONS AND APPOINTMENTS

a.Promotions:Harry
Trill received the following promotions during his time in service:

Date of Promotion

Rank
or Position

6 April
1914

Enlisted as a Sapper in
the Hampshire Fortress Engineers.

14 January
1920

Enlisted as a Gunner in
the Royal Artillery.

31 January
1922

Promoted Lance
Bombardier in the Royal Field Artillery.

20
December 1922

Promoted Acting
Bombardier in the Royal Field Artillery.

5 January
1926

Promoted Lance Sergeant
Signaller.

15 March
1927

Promoted Sergeant.

14 March
1933

Promoted Battery
Sergeant Major (Warrant Officer Class II).

14 August
1939

Appointed Acting
Regimental Sergeant Major (Warrant Officer Class I).

1 December
1939

Granted War Substantive
Rank as Regimental Sergeant Major.

16 May
1947

Enlisted as a Squadron
Quartermaster Sergeant in the Royal Engineers (Territorial Army).

b.Appointments:Harry
Trill received the following appointments during his time in service:

Date of Appointment

Position

14 April
1923

Designated a Bombardier
Signaller, R.A.

17 June
1932

Appointed Park Sergeant,
R.A.

14 March
1933

Appointed Battery
Sergeant Major, R.A.

14 August
1939

Appointed Acting
Regimental Sergeant Major, R.A.

16 May
1947

Appointed Squadron
Quartermaster Sergeant, R.E.

7.MILITARY TRAINING AND EDUCATION

a.Military Training:Harry Trill received the following military
training during his time in service:

Dates

Course
of Training

6 April
– 4 August 1914

Recruit training as a
Sapper, Royal Engineers.

14 January
– 3 February 1920

Training as a Gunner,
Royal Artillery.

14 April
1923

Completed Instructor
Training as a Signaller.

30 August
1930

Completed Gunnery
Course.

1 June
1931

Completed the Small Arms
Course.

b.Education:Harry Trill received the following educational qualifications during his
time in service.

Date

Qualification

6 August
1920

Awarded a Third Class
Certificate of Education at Kirkee, India.

1 April
1921

Awarded a Second Class
Certificate of Education at Belgaum, India.

3 March
1922

Awarded a First Class
Certificate of Education at Kirkee, India.

8.MEDICAL INFORMATION

The
following medical information is shown in the service papers of Harry Trill
during his periods of service in the Army:

Date

Medical
Condition or Action

6 April
1914

Medical examination determined him fit for service
in the Army.

3 February
1918

Accidentally injured while not on duty.

4 February
1918

Admitted to hospital to treat his injury.

8 January
1920

Medical examination determined him fit for
reenlistment in the Army, Medical Category A.1.

16 July
1941

Admitted to hospital for an unknown ailment.

6 August
1941

Released from hospital.

3 October
1941

Determined unfit for further military service.

22
December 1966

Died of heart disease.

9.CONDUCT

It must be assumed that Harry Trill received at least one and perhaps
more Good Conduct Badges during his long service in the Army.There is no record of these badges being awarded in his service papers.The following is recorded in Harry Trill’s service papers regarding his
conduct while serving in the Army:

Date

Comment
Related to Conduct

10
December 1918

Absent from roll call
while assigned to the 560th (Hants) Army Troops Company.

11
December 1918

Received punishment of 3
days confined to barracks in open arrest.

13 January
1920

Conduct rated as Very
Good upon discharge from the Royal Engineers.

3 October
1941

Conduct rated as Very
Good; trustworthy and efficient upon discharge from the Royal Artillery.

10.MEDALS, AWARDS AND DECORATIONS

Harry
Trill received the following medals, awards and decorations during his time in
service:[28]

Date

Medal
or Award

Circa 1920

1914-15 Star named to
1139 Sapper H. Trill, R.E.

Circa 1920

British War Medal named
to 1139 Sapper H. Trill, R.E.

Circa 1920

Victory Medal named to
1139 Sapper H. Trill, R.E.

April 1933

Long Service and Good
Conduct Medal (GVR) named to 1043088 BQMS H. Trill, R.A.

Post 1945

Defence Medal, unnamed
as issued.

Post 1945

1939-45 Star, unnamed as
issued.

2 January
1956

British Empire Medal
named to 1043088 SQMS H. Trill, R.E.

The medals shown in Figure 11 below are, from left to right:The British Empire Medal, 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal,
Defence Medal, 1939-45 War Medal and Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (GVR).The authorization for his Great War medals is shown in Figure 12 below
and also in the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Medal rolls.The World War 2 Defence Medal and 1939-45 War Medal were earned by virtue
of his service in the United Kingdom from 3 September 1939 to 13 January 1942.The Long Service and Good Conduct Medal was awarded to him by Army Order
175/33 of 1933 and his award of the British Empire Medal was published in the
London Gazette of 2 January 1956.

Figure 11.Harry Trill’s
Medals

Figure 12.Harry Trill’s
Great War Medals Index Card.

11.RELEASE FROM SERVICE

Harry Trill was released from service for the final time probably in
1956.His total service was reckoned
as shown in the tables below:

Location

Period
of Service

Home

6 April
1914 – 14 September 1915

France

15
September 1915 – 10 June 1919

Home

11 June
1919 – 3 June 1920

India

4 June
1920 – 29 November 1933

Home

30
November 1933 – 3 November 1941

Home

16 May
1947 - 1956

cation

Period
of Service

Home
Service

17
years and 227+ days

Service
Abroad

15
years and 75 days

Total Service

32
years and 302 days

NOTE:His total home
service and total service are not exact since it is not known when he was
finally discharged from the Territorial Army either late in 1955 or early in
1956.He served in the Territorial
Force during the Great War, in the Regular Army between the wars and in the
Territorial Army after the Second World War.What can be said of Harry Trill’s time in service is that it was
impressive!

11.POST SERVICE LIFE

Nothing
was uncovered about Harry Trill’s post service life during the course of this
research.When he finally left the
Territorial Army in 1955 or 1956 he was about 60 years old and probably ready
for full retirement.He had been a
blacksmith in his younger days, but he probably was too old in 1956 to consider
this line of work.In
1966 he and his wife were living at 16 Bayly Avenue in Portchester, a locality
and suburb about 6 kilometers northwest of Portsmouth, part of the borough of
Fareham in Hampshire.Throughout his
life he and his family had a very close association with the Portsmouth area, so
it is not surprising that he would have settled there after leaving the Army

Figure 13.The Trill
Residence at 16 Bayly Avenue in Portchester.

Harry Trill died in Gosport, Hampshire on the 22nd of December
1966 at the age of 70.His death
certificate shows him as a Regimental Sergeant Major (retired), Royal Artillery.Strictly speaking this is not correct as his last rank in the Army was
Squadron Quartermaster Sergeant, Royal Engineer in the Territorial Army.However, as his occupation was given to the registry office by his wife
or another relative, they probably saw fit to give the highest rank that Harry
held during his entire time in the Army.The
informant of his death was his wife, Daisy L. Trill and her residence was shown
as the Bayly Avenue address given above.

Harry’s cause of death was heart related and may have been an ailment
that he had had for many years, including the time when he was declared “unfit
for any form of military service.”Specifically
he was diagnosed with coronary thrombosis, ischemic heart disease and
hypertension – arterial, right hemiplegia; that is, a stroke paralyzing the
right side of the body.

Harry’s wife, Daisy Louisa (also known as Louisa Daisy) died Portsmouth
on the 11th of July 1973 at the age of 72.She was still residing at the Bayly Avenue address at the time of her
death.Her estate was valued at Ł9,846.

REFERENCES

Army Lists

The Monthly Army
List, April 1914, p. 852.

Census Data

1901 Census of England
and Wales.

1911
Census of England and Wales

3.

Documents

Death Certificate.

(Hants) Army Troops
Company, R.E. War Diary, January 1915 to March 1919.

Attestation
in the Territorial Force (Army Form E. 501). 4 years’ Service in the United
Kingdom.a.
Description on Enlistment.
c.Statement of Services.
d.Military History Sheet.e.Casualty Form – Active Service (Army Form B. 103).

Inter-War Years and World War 2.

a. Short Service Attestation (Army Form B. 250).
b.Description on Enlistment.
c.Military History Sheet.d.Statement of Services (3 pages).
e.Service and Casualty Form (Army Form B. 103-I)(4 pages).
f.Discharge Document.

Royal Artillery Attestation.

APPENDIX 1

Chronological Outline of the Service of the 560th (Hants)
Army Troops Company, R.E.
in the Great War of 1914-1918